The 101 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time

If you ask delinquents in a junior high detention hall and your Great Aunt Pam what they think about the movie Happy Gilmore, you're likely to get two wildly different answers.

So, in developing an ordered list of the 101 greatest sports movies ever, one must first find a person with discernible taste and an eagle eye for finding the truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to inspiring a win with "new uniforms!" or timeworn stories about underdogs, I am a bona fide expert.

And today, I offer my services. You're welcome.

The following list is a carefully curated ranking of movies that feature sports as a main element in the storyline. Films that are rife with cliches or use athletics as a crutch instead of a pillar are ranked lower, while objectively awesome sports films rank towards the top.

Easy enough? Good. Now, update your Netflix queue accordingly.

Note: ESPN's "30 for 30" series is not included because those pieces are pretty good and, consequently, would infest this list like flawlessly edited cockroaches.

90. Rookie of the Year (1993)

Rookie of the Year tells the story of a little jerk who throws untouchable heat.

After breaking his arm and subsequently developing a major-league fastball, Henry Rowengartner becomes a wildly brazen pitcher in the big leagues.

He baits runners into being picked off by calling them "chicken," rattles opposing pitchers by telling them they have a "big butt" and—with the season on the line—has the cojones to deliver an underhand lob pitch to a roided-out slugger.

The guy has the moxie of Johnny Manziel, the showmanship of Ric Flair and a bedtime of 9 p.m.

52. The Hurricane (1999)

Director Norman Jewison examines the incredible true story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer who was poised to be to be a title contender before a wrongful conviction sent him to prison for nearly three decades.

43. Remember the Titans (2000)

Hell hath no fury like a suburban high school football coach who has recently watched Remember the Titans.

As Rudy is to deep bench zeal, this movie is to outrageously long conditioning sessions.

Despite inspiring a generation of insufferable coach archetypes, Denzel Washington murders the role of Herman Boone, and that Marvin Gaye number in the locker room is enough to make a water buffalo smile.

35. Rudy (1993)

Rudy tells the inspiring true story of an undersized football player who—through sacrifice, hardship and the loss of his fiancée to his own brother—records a single sack in the garbage minutes of a blowout.

Never let anybody tell you that you can't achieve your dreams, kiddos.

9. Field of Dreams (1989)

Field of Dreams is Kevin Costner's Revolver, which is to say that it's not his best piece, but a bona fide classic nevertheless.

It tells the story of an Iowa farmer who hears voices. But, instead of ritualistically shooting his John Deere equipment like an agricultural version of the Son of Sam, he builds a baseball field for ghosts.

The film also uses country's heartland to say something about beauty of America's pastime as it relates to this sick, sad world we live in.

4. The Hustler (1961)

There was a time when chain-smoking Chesterfield cigarettes and playing pool was the coolest thing a guy could do, and no one embodied the unadulterated machismo of degenerate gambling like Paul Newman.

The Hustler is about humiliating enemies and steamrolling one's way to redemption, which are profoundly important life lessons.

And, the film's pool hall showdown between Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats is the sports movie equivalent to Luke Skywalker battling it out against Darth Vader, only with pool sticks instead of fluorescent tube lights.